Fairy Tale
by Mirlin
Summary: When the brave knight Arthur find a parchment about the missing child of the Chinese emperor, he accepts it as his new quest. Expecting to find a princes in distress guarded by a fearsome dragon, he leaves to full fill his mission. An IggyChu fairy tale.


Well actually this fiction was for an iggychu fantasy contest.. but I believe it's already over.. :'D But I still like the fiction.. so I finished it and here it i..

Hopefully you all will enjoy this little iggychu fairy tale..

**ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE!** Grammar nazi's will hate me..

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><p><strong>Fairy Tale<strong>

Once upon a time, a mighty emperor ruled the great lands of China. His imperial majesty was a hard working man and his people loved him for his care.

On a certain day the peace in the empire was disturbed by a terrible event. During the night his child -and heir of the throne- disappeared, but the reason was unknown to anyone.

Many servants were send to find the emperor's child, but only few came back with their stories.

In the farest ends of the lands, the child was held in captivity in the highest tower of a castle guarded and protected by one of the Chinese water gods; A dragon that lived in a castle on the bottom of a lake.

Torn by grief the emperor send a message to all that were brave enough to defeat the dragon and bring his child back.

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><p><em>Message from the emperor. Here by his imperial majesty summons all knights to save his… A great reward will...<em>

Arthur held the parchment in his hand while he read the notice. A corner of the sheet was torn off, but the male could fill in the missing words for himself. A young lady, and an imperial princess at that, was in danger. It was something a real knight, like him, should never ignore.

Without hesitation the British knight followed his path to the Chinese Emperor's palace. The guard let him through after he showed them the notice and lead him into the throne room.

Arthur sat down on one knee while he bowed for the wise and mighty, but sad looking emperor. "Majesty." He said polite before he stood up again. "Your request to save your daughter reached my ears and interest."

"Daughter?" The emperor asked confused.

Arthur looked up, surprised that the emperor had sounded confused. He held up the notice he found and showed it to the emperor. "I found this notice on a wall at the main square, sire."

The emperor looked at it for only a second before he answered. "Of course, my daughter." He said. He stood up from his throne and pointed to the door of the throne room. "You will find her in the highest tower in a castle in the farest ends of my empire, protected and guarded by an undefeatable dragon, young knight."

Arthur bowed a second time. "I will find her and conquer the dragon to bring her back safely, sire."

And thus the fearless knight mount his horse and started his quest to find the imperial princess.

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><p>Weeks had pasted, in which the British knight searched and gathered information about the mysterious castle, until he arrived.<p>

Arthur stared resolute to a rock face in front of him. According to the information he had gathered, the castle should be hidden behind it.

He took his time to inspect the wall and search for a way through it. Only a few meters away from the point where he start searching he noticed that the ivy, that grew over the rock face, was damaged. Carefully he tried to touch the stone wall, but instead of meeting with the cold stone his arm disappeared within an opening.

Arthur pulled his arm back and slowly pushed the ivy aside to see what was behind it. A small opening, but big enough for someone to climb through it, was hidden by the ivy.

Slightly doubting the brave knight climbed through the opening, to end in a cave and in the entrance of a valley.

Arthur warily grabbed his sword's handle, ready to draw it when needed. With careful but assured steps he walked to the other entrance of the cave that was much larger than the one he had climbed through.

When he stepped into valley he had to blink a few times. In the middle of the valley lay a giant lake that was surrounded by grass, flowers, scrubs and other plants. The valley was separated from the rest of the world by walls that reached high into the sky, but that wasn't what tickled his interest the most.

In the middle of the lake a single tower reached above the water and only a few feet below the water surface the rest of the massive castle was hidden.

Arthur walked hesitantly closer to the water, to see how deep the castle reached, but the further he looked down the darker it became, leaving the exact depth of the lake and the size of the castle for a mystery.

He took a deep breath and took a few steps back. He looked at the tower that reached above the water and thought about a strategy to bring the imperial princess safely back home.

Mostly likely she would be in the tower above the water, not only because it was the only part that reached above the water, but also because mostly a princess would be held captive in the highest tower of a castle.

The brave knight looked back into the water. He could swim to the tower, but in the absence of proper information about the dragon he doubted if it was wise to. The dragon could either be a water dragon hidden within the water or a flying dragon that could come back any second.

He could hope for a flying dragon and take the risk of swimming to the tower, but when the dragon would be water dragon and decided to attack him within the water he would be in a huge disadvantage. On the other hand; when he would take a bet on a water dragon, the only way to get to the princes was by calling forth the dragon and battle on the surface.

Though his last option was his best shot. He drew his sword and held it tightly in both hands when he looked over the water. "I, Arthur Kirkland, am here to rescue the imperial princes, daughter of the Chinese emperor." Arthur called for the dragon. "I summon you to come forth and face me in a battle of life and dead."

Expecting a dragon to raise from the water, Arthur grounded his feet and prepared for a fight, but instead of a dragon raising from the water, something completely different happened.

In the small window of the tower a young, long haired male appeared and looked down at the brave knight. He sat down on the window's frame and let his legs dangle outside the window. "The emperor doesn't have a daughter, sir knight." The Chinese male informed Arthur and folded his hands within his oversized sleeves.

Arthur pinched his sword tighter. If they emperor didn't have a daughter, than he demanded to know what this male had done to the princes. "If so than I'll demand you to tell me what happened to her." He said strict. If he couldn't come back with the princes, than he had to return with a proper explanation for the emperor.

The Chinese male looked down into the water and whistled short and sharp. It took less than a second for the enormous, red, Chinese dragon to raise from the water.

Arthur's eyes widened when he saw the dragon. He took a small step back and held his sword in front of him.

He watched how the dragon bend towards the window in the tower and let the young male step onto his head.

The Chinese male stood between the dragon's horns and kept his balance by grabbing a horn.

When the dragon turned towards Arthur, the young male spoke again. "The emperor never had a daughter, only two sons." He said. "Where did you receive the information that he had a daughter?"

Arthur stared dumbfounded at the male on the dragon. He took the folded parchment out of his pocket and read the notice again. '_Message from the emperor. Here by his imperial majesty summons all knights to save his… A great reward will...'_

Arthur frowned. He had filled in the missing words himself and had assumed the emperor was searching for his daughter, but now he thought back at the reaction of the emperor when he asked about his daughter, he remembered the confused expression on the man's face. "The emperor never told me he was searching for his son." The knight mumbled ashamed that he had been searching for a princes instead of a prince.

"Of course he did not." The Chinese male said. "He's waiting for my return and cares less that you expect to find a woman instead of a man."

Arthur blinked. Here he was expecting to find a woman in distress and instead he found a male standing on top of a dragon. It was a little hard to take in the completely different situation immediately.

"You're the imperial prince?" Arthur asked still slightly confused. "You sure do not look like you're in distress." Suddenly a thought popped up in his mind. He knew why the prince was here. "You ran away. Why?"

The imperial prince looked away for a moment and then signed the dragon to move a little closer to the shore. "Did someone ever forced you to marry someone you barely know?" He asked carefully. The male still did not look at Arthur and his voice was a bit more quiet than before.

Arthur did not say a word. Nobody had every forced him to marry someone, but he could imagine how awful it must be. "No." He answered after a short silence. In an attempt to change the prince's thoughts and come back to the palace he continued: "But you could always get to know each other."

The young male turned his eyes towards Arthur and shook his head. He stared at the knight as if he wanted to tell him something, but he did not. An unsecure expression appeared on his face and he signed the dragon to pull slightly back again. "It feels as if I do not belong to a woman." The male almost whispered. "As if I will never get happy with a woman and..."

"...that you rather live your life with a man along your side." Arthur finished the males sentence. As soon as he had said that he looked away, forcing the embarrassed blush from his face. He had spoken the words before he knew it and knew he just indicated that felt the same.

The Chinese male looked up surprised when Arthur finished him. "You recognise the feeling." He stated direct.

Arthur kept quiet. He wasn't planning to say more than he already had done and just hoped the male wouldn't continue about the subject.

The Chinese male signed the dragon to bend down to Arthur again. He sat down on the dragon's nose and was raising only slightly above the knight now. "I won't return to the palace as long as they force me to marry."

Arthur, who was glad that the subject changed turned back to the prince. "Your father is waiting for you and so is your throne."

"My younger brother can have it." The male answered. "I'm not interested in becoming the next emperor."

Arthur stared at the male. This prince was impossible. "Than what will you do? You can't live in isolation the rest of your life."

"Can't I?" The male answered and then looked away thinking. After a few silent minutes Yao turned back to Arthur. "What will you do after you leave this valley?" He asked interested.

Arthur raised his thick eyebrows. "Searching damsels in distress, most likely." He answered.

The male seemed to be even more interested when Arthur told him that. "Could you use another pair of hands?"

Arthur blinked. "You want to come with me?" He said. "But you're the imperial prince." As far as Arthur knew, a prince should be sitting in a palace protected by guards.

"Do you think I can't fight?" The male asked. He let himself slide of the nose of the dragon and landed on his feet on the shore. "As a prince I have been trained in the imperial army." He said and reached for the dragon's head. "And I have a dragon."

Arthur turned a bit pale and stared at the enormous dragon. "You can't take it with you. It's size will attract attention." He said shocked.

The Chinese prince smiled and looked at his dragon. "Long." He said and petted the dragon's head once.

The dragon suddenly changed shape and within a mere second it wasn't bigger than a common snake. The dragon float to the prince's shoulder and sat down, grabbing the fabric of his shirt with its sharp claws.

"Would this size do?" The male asked.

Again the prince made Arthur blink in surprise. "It'll attract less attention." He confirmed.

"Can I come with you then?" The Chinese male asked hopeful.

Arthur reached with his hand to his neck and rubbed it slowly while he thought about it. "I assume a helping hand wouldn't hurt." He said slowly, still not used to the situation he was in right now.

The prince's eyes widened in excitement. He stepped right in front of Arthur, folded his arms with his sleeves and bowed for the male as a thanks. "I'll get my stuff." He said and turned back to Long. The Dragon changed shape again and became the giant dragon that it had been before again and carried the prince to the window of the tower.

Arthur took a deep breath and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and noticed he was still holding his sword. He held it in front of him and stared at it. Disappointed that he didn't have to slay a dragon he buried it back in its scabbard. Actually he had been looking forward to a battle with a dragon, the tingling that would ran through his veins and the satisfied feeling when he managed to kill it. Apparently he had to wait a little while longer before he could.

The Chinese male came back quicker than Arthur expected. When Arthur saw him jumping off the dragon; back on the shore he blinked for the hundredth time that day.

All of a suddenly the male didn't look like the imperial prince he was anymore. With two swords in his hands and the scabbards on his back he looked more like a mercenary or a bounty hunter with fancier clothes.

The male shove his swords skilfully in their scabbards and turned to Arthur. "What was your name again?" He asked not ashamed that he forgot.

"Arthur." Arthur said and realised that he had no idea what the prince's name was. Before he could ask, the prince answered his question.

"Nice to meet you Arthur, they call me Yao." The prince said then he signed Long to float towards him and walked to the entrance of the valley. Apparently the dragon had turn itself small again when Arthur wasn't looking. "Let's go."

Shocked that Yao suddenly took the leadership he walked after the male. "Wait!" Arthur said confused. "You were coming with me, not the other way around!"

"Then you have to be quicker." Yao said and was already half way the entrance. "Besides I'm an imperial prince, I'm born to lead."

Offended by Yao's sudden character change Arthur quickly walked after him. Maybe taking the male with him hadn't been such a good idea after all.

**~The End~**


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